Sired
by AllUNeedIsFaith
Summary: Angel is fighting an enemy that he’s having trouble killing. Lots of flashbacks ensure that you are surprised at least once. Twists galore here in the dingy alley in which Angel is fighting and brooding at the same time.
1. Chapter 1: Hesitation

Chapter 1

Angel hesitated. He cursed inwardly. He never hesitated. He couldn't hesitate. If he hesitated then...

BAM! That would happen. He was thrown backwards into the solid brick wall that made up one side of the alley. He fell down arms first onto the dirty and slightly damp concrete floor. He cursed inwardly again.

He felt slightly nostalgic, after he'd moved to Wolfram and Hart he hadn't been able to really go out and kick some demon but in a random dark alleyway. He jumped to his feet and began blocking and punching. It was automatic now, it had taken a while to get to the point where it was automatic again. Especially just after the year at Wolfram and Hart.

_It all started a few months ago. It was the kind of thing that built up over time. Aren't they all? Angel was all alone and still a vampire. You could never satisfy those Powers That Be. They were like parents that expected too much from their children. You know the type that spends the entire time watching a soccer game and yelling at their kids from the side line._

He found an opening and took it. He kicked with a force so strong that he could've pulled a muscle if he wasn't an experienced fighter. The other was on its ass. He released the spring loaded stake which was hidden in his sleeve. He ran at the other and was about to plunge it in the still heart before him but then...

_Angel was left to do all of the dirty work. Finding and killing all of the scum left in the city. Then Buffy came. She was looking for Potential slayers and doing some hunting while she was at it. Angel didn't catch the full story though. He spent too much time looking at Buffy and then not looking at Buffy and then stuttering and basically being Angel around Buffy._

_And then came the kissing, the not being able to help it and then... Angelus._

Angel hesitated. Again. Again he was thrown on his ass. He cursed inwardly again and reloaded his stake. He and the other paced around the imaginary circle warily. Neither wanted to make the first move because that had a chance of leaving them with the bad position. And neither wanted to be thrown on their respective asses again. An experience not sorely missed by either opponent.

_Angelus had taken off to terrorise the city. And he succeeded in that. The entire Scooby gang had been tracking him but they were always a step or two behind. Angelus made sure of that and Angelus against the Scooby gang, well the odds weren't even._

The other made the first move. The other launched at Angel and Angel dodged it in a manner that seemed to say that it was easy but was actually really lucky to get out of the attack. Neither of them were in vamp face and that was probably the strategy of the opposer. Well it worked. Twice Angel had a chance and twice he'd failed to take it.

_Then Angelus had set a trap. In that big warehouse. Angel watched from the ether as it all happened. Xander was the first to go, walking into a cage. Or more like falling into it. Then Willow who got trapped in a box impervious to magic. Giles walked into the same cage as Xander and Dawn had followed Giles._

Angel dodged another attack and grabbed the vamp from behind. He held the vamp's back to his front, holding her neck with a strong hand to keep her there. She struggled for a second. Then she just stopped dead. Obviously a thought had appeared into her mind.

_The worst thing to do when hunting a vampire, or more specifically Angelus, was to split up. Angelus knew the group would do this, hence the separate traps. And they'd fallen for it. Chumps._

Angel was strongly reminded of the way he used to grab victims before biting them as Angelus. He then let go. A string of emotions came over him as he remembered the last time he'd performed that move on a human being as Angelus. Or as anyone.

_All this had left Buffy alone. By herself. Vulnerable._

_Angelus sneaked up on her and attacked her. She turned and all she saw was the fist coming towards her. She fell but flipped up quickly, she had to have a fast recovery rate when it came to Angelus or she'd be dead before you could say 'Bite me.'_

_Angelus, however was fighting quite calmly. He wasn't out of his depths. True, Buffy was one of the best fighters (despite the Beast) that he'd encountered but look at the competition. Humans, other vampires and some vampire slayers who were just begging him to bite them._

_In no time he had her cornered on top of many boxes in front of a big window..._

The vamp spun around to face him. She half smiled at him,

"What's wrong Angel? Get hit with a blast from the past?" Angel didn't reply he only stood there, frozen. Remembering what came next.

"_Take one last look at the moon out the window. It's the last time you'll ever see the moon while breathing." Buffy looked at Angelus instead of the moon. He put on a reassuring smile._

"_Go on." Maybe it was the fact that he looked so much like Angel in that instance but for some reason Buffy did find herself turning around and looking out at the full moon. Angelus advanced on her and vamped. He stepped in behind her and held her small frame to his large one by a strong hand on her throat. He dipped his head and smelled her neck._

"_Mmm, I love the taste of a scared Slayer at night." He bared his teeth and was about to bite when... _

The vamp launched herself at him and he was hit this time, caught while still off brooding. She started punching him numerous times and he felt his face get bruised and swollen. His consciousness grew more distant and he felt a cold seep into his bones. His vision became slightly blurry and he could taste blood in his mouth.

_Faith crashed through the window. She quickly threw a surprised Angelus off of the boxes and onto the hard ground. She checked Buffy over quickly and then jumped off the boxes to join Angelus. Buffy had seen Faith coming and that was why she had ever let Angelus get close. Buffy quickly followed Faith off of the boxes and in front of Angelus who groaned on the floor. The drop had been at least 2 stories high. At least._

_The two slayers went into 'fight mode' as the vampire got up slightly groggy. He looked at the both of them and shook his head muttering something. Definitely something that you wouldn't want a little kid to learn and most certainly something that would be censored._

He looked up at the vamp above him who was still in human form. She looked at him and then grinned. She vamped and that was when Angel finally fought back. He threw her off of him and pinned her against the opposite wall. She vamped out and he looked at her a little too long. Damn, another hesitation.

_After a long and weary fight that looked like it could go both ways Angelus finally more or less defeated the Slayers. Got them in a tricky position to say the least. Buffy was knocked out and Faith, being the little trooper that she is, was still conscious but looked more like a punching bag that had had the crap kicked out of it than a human being._

_Angelus stood above them slouched slightly and managed to gather up enough effort to smile. It stayed plastered to his face for a few seconds before being removed because of the sheer exhaustion. The smug look in his eyes was still there though. That would never leave them until he was reinsouled. Then it would be brooding and pain and unsureness._

This time Angel had managed to fix his mistake by just punching her. He felt her nose break beneath his powerful fist and winced as he heard it crack. She held her nose and gave Angel a 'That was Bad' look. They stood like that for a second before she called the fight back on by throwing a punch which was deflected by Angel.

_Angelus had chosen Faith first, her being the conscious one and all._

"_Now there's no drug you've injected into yourself that I should know about, is there?" Angelus asked as he dragged her to her feet and to face him. She swayed slightly, relying on Angelus' grip to keep her standing, and then she spat in his face._

"_Good." Angelus smiled and wiped the spit off calmly whilst holding Faith up single handedly. He then smiled at her predatorily and brought her close to him so that there was barely an inch between them. Faith's eyes widened and fear came into them._

"_No goody two shoes Angel 'round to help you now is there? He's just a puff of smoke floating around."_

"_You think I care about dying?" Every word was spat out and every syllable caused Faith pain._

"_Well, yeah. So says your fast beating heart and adrenaline rush." At 'fast beating heart' Angelus clapped a fist over his own and then added,_

"_By the way, thanks for that. I love it when there's a bit of adrenaline in the mix."_

"_You gonna talk me to death or just bite me?" Faith asked him. Angelus pretended to ponder the question. Then he vamped._

"_I think I'm gonna bite you." He then leaned forward and buried his fangs in Faith's neck. He drank and Faith cried out slightly as she felt Angelus suck the life out of her for the second time. Just when Faith's heart started to slow he stopped and cut into his wrist, drawing blood. He then offered it to Faith and she began sucking at it like there was no tomorrow. After a few seconds she collapsed and Angelus smiled._

_Slayer's blood always made him feel refreshed._

_And speaking of slayer's blood..._

"I'm sorry about what I did to you." Angel said as he deflected blows and shovelled a few of them out himself. The vamp smiled.

"Why? Why should you be sorry? Cos I don't have a soul or that I'm bad and you have to kill me." Angel deflected a blow that came perilously close to his face.

"Both."

_Angelus turned to Buffy and bent down over her. He breathed in her scent and smiled._

"_Well I think I'll just..."_

"_Leave her to me."_

Angel had her pinned against a wall again and just started to throw punches at her, not really looking at her knowing that this would make him hesitate again. Eventually the vamp slid down the wall and he sat down next to her unconscious body and said,

"I'm really sorry."

"Like B said, why?"

_Angelus whirled around and saw Faith standing there._

"_You're not meant to be alive yet." Angelus stood up and approached the slayer warily._

"_I know." Faith replied simply, they both knew how the siring thing worked._

"_Then why are you?"_

"_I don't know."_

"_And what makes you think that I'll give you the slayer?"_

"_Well, for one thing I'm stronger than you. Hell I'm a slayer and a vampire, that's gotta count for something right? And anyway, I want to sire her."_

"_Sire her? Why?"_

"_What can I say, I wanna make a club." Faith sneered at Angelus. Angelus stepped aside warily. Not only did he know that someone who was a slayer and a vampire was dangerous and unpredictable, as no one had ever sired one, but he didn't have a problem with Faith siring Buffy. She could do whatever the hell she wanted to, Angelus didn't care._

_Faith bent down over Buffy and vamped. She bit into her and began to drink. She almost drank too much blood but managed to stop herself. Siring Buffy was more important than eating at the moment. A Faith and Buffy duo would be the most dangerous ever in the history of vampires. Even Darla and Drusilla couldn't top them. And if it was a group including Angelus then they would be the ultimate killing tool. Even better than the Spike, Dru, Angelus and Darla group. _

"Because Faith, I should have stopped you. I shouldn't have sired you in the first place."

"Dude, this is my redemption. Finally I don't feel guilt for anything. All I feel is the hunger, the kill and the pleasure. It's a damn great life. Shoulda told me about it sooner. Or maybe I shoulda let Angelus sire me sooner. Doesn't matter. Now I got two cool bites. Same as B here. Only I think that she's got three. One from you, one from me and one from Drac. Not quite sure how the Drac one came around. But anyway." Faith moved around to Buffy and Angel moved around opposite to her so that she was with Buffy and he was on the opposite wall of the alley.

"We don't have to fight." Angel said, trying to do the pep talk thing that used to hold so much sway over Faith before.

"Actually, I kinda think we do soul boy. You hurt my girl. And now I'm gonna kill you."

_As Buffy drank from Faith, Angelus couldn't help but feel as if these two were going to become the most dangerous vampires in the world. And he couldn't have that. He liked his place at the top. It was nice and cosy. As Faith finished Angelus broke off a piece of wood and charged at her. Faith moved aside neatly and Angelus ran into a pile of boxes. He roared and started attacking Faith. She dodged him so easily that he was getting more annoyed by the moment._

_Every other new vampire was a crappy fighter but since Faith had previously been a slayer she had the experience of a vampire of roughly Angelus' age. She didn't even attempt to hit him. It was as if, if she did then it would be no fun. It would be too easy. She let Angelus attempt to kill her many times before she saw Buffy rise. She beamed at her as Buffy knocked Angelus out with one sweeping blow which threw him across the warehouse. Then the two had gone off arm in arm to get something to eat._

_Angelus had been found by the Scoobies who had finally found a way to get out of the cage and box that they were in. Willow quickly reinsouled Angel and they all listened as he retold the story. Xander was so pissed off at Angel that the previous times seemed like a picnic, Willow insisted that it wasn't Angel's fault but she still gave him a Willow death glare and Dawn and Giles looked lost. Dawn seemed to go comatose and Giles got something in his eyes._

"You've been killing off a quarter of the whole L.A. population. You know you can't pull this off in my town."

"I know. That's why it's not your town soul boy. Me and B own this town. The only reason you're still alive is that I wanted to thank you properly instead of sending one of my dumbass lackeys to do it. With lackeys they're all pain and no brain. Which is good sometimes but not good for all of the torture I'm set to put you through."

"But I thought you are happy with the way that you are."

"I am, don't try to put that shit on me again. Just paying you back for hitting on my girl. I tell you what, I'll only keep you alive and being tortured and beat on by me and my girl for a week instead of a year cos you sired me and all that."

"Gee thanks for the offer Faith but I think I'll pass." Angel went into fight stance.

"Think it over soul boy, it's a limited time offer."

"I've thought, I've decided and I've told you already." Angel said back and Faith held up her hands in a gesture of retreat. Ironic since they were going into a fight in which she would do a lot of the advancing and him doing a lot of the retreating.

"Fine, we'll do this the hard way."

TBC

Next chapter prepare yourself for more flashbacks. Exactly what happened when Buffy came to LA and all (well not _exactly_ exactly but I pretty much explain it in more detail).


	2. Chapter 2: Previously on Angel

Chapter 2

"I'm not exactly in my best fighting form right now." Angel said as he slouched a little more than usual. He was telling the truth fighting with Buffy had taken a lot out of him. Mentally and physically.

"Well... I'll tell you what. I'll let ya get one in for free. Come on soul boy, take a poke at me." Faith said with a smirk on her face. Angel decided to have faith in her honesty and lurched forward. Faith threw him against the wall behind her like he was nothing more than a rag doll that she'd gotten pissed off with. Except her demeanour when she was doing it was one of happiness at the prospect of a fight and boredom at the fact that Angel was in really bad fighting form at the moment. She turned to face him and laughed.

"Here's a tip soul boy: Never trust someone without a soul. I didn't think that a soul made you so stupid, but hey there you are. You can always be surprised by people with souls at the stupid things they do. I mean people without em can surprise you too, but more in an 'Ohmigod, you're drinking my blood' way." Angel curled up on the ground. The previous fight had taken more out of him that even he knew.

Faith walked over to him as he was getting up slowly from the damp dirty ground that was the alleyway. She stood over him, looking down at him with slight disdain but mostly glee at having a toy to play with.

"Aw poor baby. Here," She kicked him harshly in the stomach, "Let me help you up." Angel lay there for a second, trying to gather his almost non existent strength. Then he kicked her feet out from under her. Or he would've if she hadn't jumped to avoid his sweeping kick. He got up and threw a punch which actually connected with Faith's face. It, however, wasn't enough to wipe her smirk off of her face. She threw back another one of at least double the force.

"You're weak soul boy. Props for getting back up though. Even if that isn't going to last long." Angel spat out some blood and turned to face Faith only to be reacquainted with Faith's fist. He forced himself to turn back to Faith and she punched him again. This happened a few times until Angel saw his vision fading.

"You're just like a retriever, you keep coming back for more." Faith said in a slightly pissed tome. Then she grinned and delivered a shocker that broke Angel's cheekbone.

"I love it."

"_Buffy." Angel had just been helped by Buffy with a gang of vampires. They both stood there, unsure about what to do._

"_So..."_

"_How's Sunnydale?" Angel asked, getting the ball rolling in a sense._

"_Blew up." Buffy answered. Short and sweet seemed to be her motto. Stressing the short here. Angel nodded and Buffy nodded. The she asked,_

"_How's the evil law firm?"_

"_Oh I undermined it last year."_

"_By undermined you mean...?"_

"_Killed the Circle of the Black Thorn. Which ruined Wolfram and Hart. At least in L.A." This was just met with some strange looks from Buffy which was in turn met with some shuffling about and hunching of the shoulders from Angel._

"_So, why are you in L.A.?" Angel realised exactly how frank that was after it came out of his mouth. Buffy grimaced,_

"_Get right down to business. Right, I should've known you'd be all businessy what with running the law firm for the past year." _

"_Are you ever going to let that go?"_

"_What Wolfram and Hart? No never. You put yourself in the epicentre of all evil. And you worked with **lawyers**!" Buffy said the last sentence more being her letting off steam than actually meaning anything by it._

"_I-I know but it was all so that we could undermine it." Angel said, trying to convince himself as much as Buffy that it was the reason behind it all._

"_I'm sure it started out that way. I'm sure that that was the excuse you used. But you're not the same Angel that I knew. You're not the same Angel that I fell in love with. You're not the same Angel that I still love." There was silence in the alley as both parties tried to digest what Buffy had just let slip._

"_Did, uh, I just say that out loud?" Buffy asked and Angel nodded dumbly._

"_Oh-kay then." Buffy said and turned and walked off in the opposite direction to where Angel was standing. Angel just stood there dumb founded as if he couldn't believe what just happened._

Angel fell on the ground as Faith kicked his legs out from under him. She straddled him and said,

"Say soul boy, you reckon that any one cares if you die right here and now?" She punched him a few times and he finally managed to say,

"As many people as the ones that care if you die right here and now."

_Their night of passion came with no forewarning. There was so much tension that everyone felt it. Especially after Buffy let slip that she loved Angel. They were out patrolling/searching for Potentials and Angel decided to be the one to bring up the topic first. Finally._

"_I love you too."_

"_What?" Buffy said whirling around using probably what is the most shocked tone that anyone could muster._

"_I lo-" Angel began again but was cut off quickly._

"_I heard you." Buffy snapped._

"_Oh." Angel said, after all he had to say something. And 'oh' seemed to serve him pretty well._

"_What do you mean you love me too?" Buffy said as if there was some trick to it. As if it was all just to make her believe something that wasn't true._

"_I mean I love you too. That night when you said..." Angel began again and was cut off by Buffy... Again!_

"_Yeah, what about it?" Buffy asked snappily.  
_

"_I love you too." Angel said with this simplicity yet there was also this certain truth and honesty behind it that just made it seem so real. And it made Buffy even more pissed._

"_Would you just... Stop saying that." Buffy held up her hand and turned away. As if she didn't want to confront what kept on getting presented to her. And it was true. She didn't want to confront it. She didn't want to confront their feelings._

"_Why?" Angel being truly puzzled is a sight to behold but hey, love does strange things._

"_Because."_

"_Because why?_

"_Just because." Don't you love those answers that don't answer everything? It seemed to be Buffy's topic for the questions Angel as asking. Like before she was trying to avoid confronting feelings._

"_But why-?"_

"_Because if you say it again I'm going to find it too hard to keep away from you. Too hard to not touch you every second of every day. God. It's already hard enough." Now look what's happened, Buffy's had to confront her feelings. She felt herself let some depression take her because of the truth of the previous outburst. Hell, she welcomed it. They kept walking in silence until they got to Buffy's hotel._

"_I'll walk you up to your room." Angel said at the lobby and Buffy just walked into the elevator, not bothering to argue with him._

_When they got to the door of her room they stood there unsure. Angel was the first to speak, knowing that if someone didn't talk soon they'd be here for a very long time._

"_So... Goodnight." Angel said and they stood there. He turned away but Buffy's hand on his stopped him. They both looked at her hand and then when their gaze lifted finally they were all over each other. They somehow made it into the room and collapsed onto the bed. (Tribute to 'I Will Remember You' with the hand on hand thing)_

"Oh yeah soul boy? You trying to pull a fast one on me? Well you tell me this, how exactly am I going to die?"

"From guilt." Angel said. Faith looked at him with a sneer on her face but then it changed to confusion in her eyes and just the slightest trace of fear. Then she got off of Angel and staggered a few steps down the alley before falling to her knees and crying out. Her head bent over and she gasped in pain. When she looked back up there was a light that went through her eyes and she looked around bewildered.

_In the middle of the night Angel sat up in bed and felt a pain grip him. He crawled out of bed and onto the balcony where he made a slight whimpering noise as he attempted to hold his soul and body together and said only one word,_

"_Buffy." Then it was all over. Angel was gone._

Faith saw Angel and her eyes widened. She scrambled to her feet and took off out of the alley and onto the street. Angel looked after her sadly. He knew what she was going through and he knew he couldn't help. Not right now. Not until she asked for it. And that wouldn't happen for a long time. She still had to be tormented with memories first. But hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

Angel picked up Buffy and carried her out of the alley. Back to his warehouse where the Scooby gang were. Back to where they could fix this all up in some way. There was one thing that they could do that Willow had found but to do it they'd need Buffy and Faith. At least they had one of the two.

Ensouling Faith had been necessary because she was a lot stronger than Buffy and she needed to feel something bad if she hurt the people around her otherwise they'd all be dead. They'd give her a few hours to calm down and then Angel would go out hunting for her. Maybe hunting was the wrong word. More of a search than a hunt.

As Angel walked to the warehouse he had a heavy heart. This would take some doing and he knew Willow could do it but could he? That question was still to be answered and hopefully the answer would be yes but if it wasn't... Then all was lost and he would have to do what he found it impossible to do earlier.

He walked over to where Willow was set up with the complex ingredients all around her. This spell was going to be bigger than even the one that they'd used on Buffy to bring her back to life. Willow looked up at Angel as he walked in with Buffy in his arms. She got up from her kneeling position and guided him to a circle in which there were chains that were secured to the floor. Angel lay Buffy inside the circle and started to chain her arms and legs to the floor.

When he was halfway he paused and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. He stayed like that for a second before shaking it out of his system and moving onto securing her legs. He could feel the hesitation creeping into his system and his thoughts and he knew he wouldn't last long not like this. So he just shut everything off as best as he could.

She woke up just as he finished securing the last lock. She looked up at him with big eyes.

"Angel?" Angel faltered but he refused to look at her. He got up and walked away with a slouch and trying not to hear Buffy or think about her. They stayed like that for the next two hours. Willow was sitting in the centre circle with her eyes closed and chanting Latin under her breath, getting ready for the big spell by summoning some of the gods and calling upon some other deities and so on.

Then Angel went hunting for Faith.

"_Faith," Angelus punched Faith, "Faith," Angelus punched her again, "Faith." Angelus punched her again. She fell to the floor, her consciousness about to make a trip elsewhere. Angelus picked her up with one arm so that she was dangling off of the floor._

"_I feel so left out." He punched her again and then just let her sway there._

"_You really should've told me that you were back." He punched her in the gut this time and she automatically curled over and started coughing and wheezing._

"_I could've prepared a welcome party with balloons and clowns and dead people and knives and flame throwers and other torture devices." Angelus mock sighed._

"_Ah well." He punched her again, "This will have to do."_

Angel found her crouched in a corner of an abandoned building. He approached her carefully. She looked up at him and he saw the frightened look in her eyes that was so familiar. She looked like a scared hurt animal that had been backed into a corner. And he approached her like she was. A scared hurt animal that is.

She looked at him with such pain in her eyes that was a lot more than she had been harbouring before when she was human and had accidentally killed the deputy mayor and then done all of those bad things to all of the people that were close to her. Or closer than anyone else had managed to get anyway.

Angel crouched down in front of her and asked,

"Does it hurt?"

"Yes." Faith whispered in return and Angel asked,

"Do you want it to go away?" A glimmer of hope flickered through Faith's eyes and she said in a slightly louder tone than before,

"Yes." Angel offered her his hand at her reply.

"Then come with me." He said in a soft voice and a reassuring look in his eyes. Faith was too beaten, too tortured to protest. She just took his hand and let him pull her up. He guided her, with her clinging onto him like a young child to her father, to the warehouse.

"Faith?" Buffy asked in a little girl's tone of voice. Faith turned her head but when she saw Buffy she closed her eyes in the pain of remembrance and turned away.

"Faith? What's wrong?" Buffy asked but Faith didn't reply. Buffy knew what was wrong in that instance and began to struggle against the chains that held her down tightly again.

Angel sat Faith down in the circle on the other side of Willow, opposite of Buffy. He chained her down slowly and tenderly. At the widening of her big scared eyes he reassured her that it was just a precaution and that he would be toting some chains of his own as well. And that she could trust him. That this was Angel speaking and not Angelus. Angel who had helped her before and was helping her now. She just nodded and let him chain her down to the floor. (AN: She's still in shock here so that's another reason she's letting him do this)

He then went to the circle in front of Willow and lay down, Willow chaining him up to the concrete floor. After a joke about it looking kinky at which Angel tried to force a smile and Willow knew it was faked. She just said it was okay and the he shouldn't force a smile for her. This of course brought about some disagreeing from him and insistence that she was worth it to which she smiled brightly and brushed it off. When her cheery face disappeared from view any attempts of smiling disappeared and he returned to no expression brooding face.

He lay there and tried not to become too sure that this was going to work. Magic could not be relied on but this was a last chance. If there was going to be any way of saving the two slayers from being vampires for the rest of their eternal lives then it would have to be this way. And only this way.

Angel felt the cold concrete seep through his clothes and his own body temperature sinking to the temperature of the concrete. He closed his eyes as he felt his body temperature dip lower and lower. He felt a small breeze pass by and a whisper of a promise that it would warm him only to leave as quickly and softly as it came.

Angel listened to the quiet words of Willow and when she stopped and he heard the clinking of Willow using a lighter he knew that the main spell was about to start. He tensed slightly on the floor and tried to prepare himself but he knew, inside, that he really couldn't prepare himself for this. What was going to happen was going to happen. And hopefully what was going to happen would be in his favour. In all of their favours.

Willow began the spell and Angel felt his stomach sinking. It wasn't that he was feeling bad or down or that this wasn't going to work. It was that his whole body felt like it was sinking. He was sinking, sinking down into oblivion, sinking down and down and down...

TBC

Let's see how this spell works eh? Move onto next chapter quickly and calmly peoples.


	3. Chapter 3: Ultimate Sacrifice

Chapter 3

Angel looked around. He still hadn't actually gotten his form yet. He was still a puff of smoke in the ether. He had the body of his soul in this particular time. He saw Willow wander into the box impervious to magic and, even though he was yelling warnings, Xander, Dawn and Giles got themselves in the cage. He saw Xander pace around angrily, Dawn sit there with her head resting on her knees and Giles testing the bars of the cage.

Angel knew what came next.

_Giles had taken Dawn from L.A. It was too much for her. Knowing that Buffy was a vampire and all of them knew that sooner or later Buffy would pay her little sister a visit and Dawn wouldn't be able to get rid of that thought that maybe she could save her older sister. Xander had gone because he couldn't look at Angel without wanting to throw a punch in his general direction. Willow had stayed because she knew that if she didn't the guilt would consume Angel and even he couldn't survive that. Besides she knew a little bit more about the 'whole hurting people you care about' thing than the rest of them._

He saw Angelus stalk Buffy from up in the rafters. She was walking around trying to look for Angelus. Angelus held back a snigger which really had wanted to come out. As Angelus jumped down as silently as a cat Angel tried to warn Buffy by yelling and waving his non existent hands in front of her face. But it happened the same way. Buffy turned to meet Angelus' fist.

She fell. She flipped. They fought. Trying to escape by climbing boxes. Didn't work. Cornered in front of window. And then the banter that had been exchanged through some of the fight continued. I mean, who's Angelus without the banter? It's just not right.

_She'd stayed with him as a companion and he was eternally grateful for it. Whenever news of the mass murder which had obviously been cause by Buffy and Faith would come in she'd grasp his hand and switch off the television or abruptly stop reading the newspaper or something of that kind. Angel knew she was being strong for him and regretted that he couldn't be the same for her._

"Take one last look at the moon out of the window. It's the last time you'll ever see the moon while breathing." Angel desperately tried to stop what was going to happen. Now, looking out of the window he could see Faith in the shadows. Buffy looked at Angelus instead of the moon. He put on a reassuring smile.

"Go on." Buffy turned and looked at the moon. But she obviously just saw Faith creeping closer and closer to the window. She tensed slightly as Angelus slipped in behind her and put a hand on her neck. But she quickly loosened as she realised that nothing would happen because of Faith. Angel shook his head, something was going to happen and Faith could do nothing to stop it. Neither could he.

"Mmm, I love the taste of scared Slayer at night." Angelus bared his teeth and was about to bite when Faith came crashing through the window and threw Angelus down onto the ground below.

_Angel was a mess. Until she found that spell. It was a spell that could turn back time. Change a particular event that involved a small number of people. It sent one of them back in time and gave that person a chance to change what had happened. As soon as he heard of it Angel insisted that Willow send him back. Then she told him that they needed both Faith and Buffy here. Angel hesitated. But not for too long. He said he was going to go out to hunt and kill them anyway, so if he couldn't do what he knew he couldn't do (staking either one of them) then she would be preparing this spell and awaiting his return._

Both slayers jumped down and the big fight ensued. Angel winced each time that either slayer was hit by Angelus. Eventually they got to that point. The point of no return. Buffy was unconscious. Angelus began his play time with Faith who was standing and swaying just slightly.

"Faith," Angelus punched Faith, "Faith," Angelus punched her again, "Faith." Angelus punched her again. She fell to the floor, her consciousness about to make a trip elsewhere. Angelus picked her up with one arm so that she was dangling off of the floor.

"I feel so left out." He punched her again and then just let her sway there.

"You really should've told me that you were back." He punched her in the gut this time and she automatically curled over and started coughing and wheezing.

"I could've prepared a welcome party with balloons and clowns and dead people and knives and flame throwers and other torture devices." Angelus mock sighed.

"Ah well." He punched her again, "This will have to do."

After many punches and kicks Angelus began getting bored of playing with his Faith toy. So he picked her up off of the ground and held her on her feet. Seeing as she couldn't do that herself, her slipping between consciousness and unconsciousness and all.

_Of course there was that whole thing about Faith being too strong. So Angel suggested a ensouling. That would have her in a pretty much comatose state for the first few days or so. The next few years would be hell. But hopefully it would never come to that._

"Now there's no drug you've injected into yourself that I should know about, is there?" Angelus asked as he dragged her to her feet and to face him. She swayed slightly, relying on Angelus' grip to keep her standing, and then she spat in his face.

"Good." Angelus smiled and wiped the spit off calmly whilst holding Faith up single handedly. He then smiled at her predatorily and brought her close to him so that there was barely an inch between them. Faith's eyes widened and fear came into them.

"No goody two shoes Angel 'round to help you now is there? He's just a puff of smoke floating around." Angelus smirked at Faith and revelled in his belief in the statement. Suddenly Angel felt himself gain form and he flexed his fist slightly before smiling at Angelus' back and saying,

"Not quite a puff of smoke." Angelus turned around and when he saw Angel his expression went from smirking smug guy to disbelief. He dropped Faith and looked at Angel with an ever so slightly open mouth. Angel closed it with a smashing upper cut. Angelus was thrown backwards onto the ground and groaned as he hit it. Angel had the upper hand as he hadn't just been fighting two slayers.

_Willow agreed to the idea of reinsouling Faith and they had a plan. Willow warned him about the dangers of the whole going back in time spell and he accepted each one readily as they came. She then told him what to do and what would happen during while he was getting ready to head out and get the two vampires._

Angel walked over to Angelus as he was lifting the top half of his body back up to a sitting position and smashed him in the face. Angelus' head returned to it's normal position and Angel just kept on hitting him over and over again. Think of how Faith kept hitting Angelus in the Orpheus episode just before he drinks her blood.

Angelus eventually whipped his legs around so he made Angel fall back on his back. Angelus got up slightly swaying, bleeding, bruised and definitely broken in some places. Angel looked up at him and Angelus held up a finger and asked,

"How, the fuck, are you here?" Angel kicked Angelus' legs out from under him and jumped up.

"A certain witch." Angel kicked Angelus in the side and Angelus curled over.

"Damnit. I'm going to kill that witch." He said as Angel picked him up by the collar and slammed him against the boxes.

"Not if I kill you first."

"_Look, the first few moments it's going to feel like your sinking. That's normal. Then you're going to be in the event. Watching everything. You're going to feel like interfering but you can't. Not until you're on the verge on the moment. When you get your form don't be all shocked, you've got to act fast. Begin the big fight with Angelus and keep him away from Buffy and especially Faith."_

"_Can I kill him?" Angel asked._

Angel snapped off a piece of wood from a plank next to him and held it threateningly behind him in a ready-to-stake position. Angelus' eyes widened. He was, for once actually scared of dying. All because he knew that Angel was willing and able to plunge the piece of wood into his chest. But, apparently, he was wrong.

Angel hesitated. And in that moment Angelus realised what was going on.

"_No you can't, he's still a part of you. There's no way of killing him without killing yourself too Angel." Angel looked down at the ground and made his decision right then and there._

"_Okay Willow." He started to head out but Willow's soft voice stopped him._

"_Angel." _

"You can't kill me without killing yourself, can you?" Angelus asked rhetorically both proud of himself and happy at the fact that he wasn't going to die.

Angel didn't reply he just looked down at the ground. Then he seemed to gather himself enough to do what he believed he had to. He pinned Angelus back up against the boxes with one hand and held the stake over Angelus' heart with the other.

_Angel turned to Willow and she hesitated as she looked down at the floor. Angel saw her down cast eyes and he knew that this was a big and important thing._

"_What's wrong Willow?"_

"You do this and your pep talks to Faith are meaningless." Angelus said, only slightly worried that Angel was going to apply pressure to the stake hovering around his heart.

"I don't do it and she's dead." Angel said convincing himself as much as Angelus that this was indefinitely the right thing to do. There was no other option to him. Angelus looked at him for a second before shoving him off with an energy that probably came from being pissed off. The stake fell clattering many metres away.

"What? You saying you cost me a meal? Again?" Then he started muttering, "Even after I'm free of that bloody soul I'm being cost meals. Hasn't my torment been enough over the past decades? I mean..."

"_Angelus said that the next time he gets out he's going to end the world." Angel replied after a second and when he did he did so softly,_

"_I know."_

"_Was he telling the truth?" She asked and Angel put on his leather jacket and looked her straight in the eyes._

"No." Angel said and tackled Angelus against some boxes which had nothing behind them so Angelus ended up on the ground surrounded by the wooden boxes which he'd been thrown against. Angel got up and stood above him looking down at him with hate. He was puzzled for a second before the realization hit him and his face suddenly cleared of thinking wrinkles. As it dawned on his face Angel knew he'd made a mistake. Angelus now had ammo, whether he used it or not didn't matter.

"I sired Faith? Hey great idea! Should've thought of that earlier." Angelus got back onto his feet. He obviously was too taken with the fact that he'd sired her to think of torturing Angel with it. Yet.

"How was our little Faith?" Angelus asked with an evil grin on his features. Okay, he was going to find another way to torture Angel. Angel ignored the pointed use of 'our' and decided to answer the question with a knock back answer.

"Fast enough to dodge your best kicks and punches." Angel replied and Angelus did the same ignoring as Angel did earlier.

"Our Faith give you a lot of trouble?" Angelus once again used 'our' to stir Angel a bit more but Angel had the best come back that was sure to piss off Angelus a lot.

"I gave her a soul." Angelus said in a tone that made it seem like the smallest and most simple thing in the world. Angelus roared long and loud.

"DAMN IT!" He knocked aside some of the boxes and kicked one of them so hard that he got his foot stuck in it. After he pulled it out he stopped. Something seemed to occur to him. And Angel knew that this was going to be something to hit back at him.

"What about the blonde?" Angel was silent at this and Angelus chuckled softly.

"I sire her too?"

"No." Angel replied quietly. Angelus took a few seconds to think before his grin grew and his chuckling increased to what can be called laughing.

"Ah, Faith. I really ought to give her more credit. Faith sired Buffy." Angelus came to the conclusion slowly and happily. He saw the expression on Angel's face and continued laughing and his smugness didn't disappear.

"And Buffy knocked you on your ass."

"Ooh, someone's hurting."

"Not just me." Angel said as he punched Angelus square in the nose and landed him on his ass. He then hauled Angelus off of the ground and pinned him onto the wall of boxes that once had Buffy, Angelus and Faith on it at one point in time.

"_Yes." Then Angel left the warehouse with his coat billowing behind him and Willow looked after him with sad eyes. She knew what he was going to do. _

_What he had to._

Angel looked at him before releasing the spring loaded stake concealed in his shirt sleeve and piercing his heart. And leaving it there for extra effect. This time there was no hesitation. This time Angel didn't have to think about anything. This time it came naturally.

Faith had come back into consciousness to hear the last ten minutes of the exchange (from "You can't kill me without killing yourself, can you?") and see both of them collapse into dust and she knew that Angel had given his life to kill the most dangerous vampire in the world.

She cried until she could cry no more and when Buffy woke up all she had to do was look at the two piles of dust, see Faith crying and know that Angel had died. What she didn't know until later when Faith had managed to gather herself enough to tell all of the scoobies was that Angel had sacrificed himself so that the world was in no danger from Angelus. No danger now and no danger in the future.

Angel's soul did end up going to heaven. It was a special case. Besides, unbeknownst to most living on earth, souls are judged by their last living action. Sometimes what you do as you are dying is the most important thing that you can ever do. Angel had saved the world one last time in his last act knowing that this would kill him. That secured his place in heaven. In the dimension where all he felt was happiness. At last he was able to feel the one human emotion he'd always wanted but could never have.

"_Don't you see Buff? With Angel around I'll always be around. No way to get rid of me without getting rid of Angel. And you know that. So does he. And so do I. How have I lived for this long? Besides being the best big bad? Having Angel for an alter ego. Nowadays keeps most slayers off my back." Angelus said as he kicked Buffy backwards into the boxes behind her. (Warehouse fight banter)_

The End

That's all folks. The end of a pretty decent story even if I do say so myself. I reckon best AngelBuffyFaith story I've rolled out so far. Okay so it's the only one I've rolled out into this big world of ours. I'm gonna do some HopeFaith stories so I'll explain that in an attempt of promoting myself shamelessly. Hope is a character I've made up, she's Faith's twin sister and she comes to Rome where Faith is with the Scooby gang. When she comes she and Faith make such a great duo when fighting the baddies (Because Hope is this gun girl that can kill vamps better than any one we know) that it rocks the boat. The whole Scooby gang, Faith not included, reckons that Hope is a Potential but Hope has some problems of her own relating to slayers or more specifically being one.

There may be a pure Angel story being rolled out by yours truly in a little bit called 'Alone' and it's about (shock horror) Angel being all alone and all this other stuff. Having just watched the first two episodes of 'Taken' that won't be too hard. Set probably ten maybe twenty years after finale and no one from the A-team is left over. May have to deal with new slayers. Have to decide about that bit. Tell me stuff if you want maybe recommendations or something. Or not. Either way is good. I just had a young Willow moment, okay back from Seers. Back, back.

Before I rant for much longer or do more self promotion... Oh and on that subject if you're into the WesleyLilah relationship I'm putting a couple short stories up on that so please check them out... Okay I'm stopping. Hope y'all have a great life and if I don't see you again then 'Good morning, Good afternoon and Good night.'

Mwah, love y'allz!

JB


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